Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced the city will close four shelters over the course of a month to consolidate resources and save the city $60 million.
One immigrant shelter will close per week, with the goal of reducing the city’s budget deficit and consolidating shelters as the immigrant surge has slowed down in the city.
“We knew that as a result of federal inaction on immigration and the resulting budget crisis, there were two important steps we needed to take,” Johnston said at a press conference Wednesday. “One was to adjust the city’s budgets to help support these needs, and the second was to reduce the overall cost of our migrant program.”
The city projected that dealing with the crisis would cost the city $180 million, but the closures will reduce that number by a third.
“We can use [the $60 million] to make sure all city services are funded,” Johnston said.
Denver said no one will be kicked out of shelters. Rather, immigrants will be moved to another shelter as part of the consolidation process.
“We’re putting in place now the infrastructure to be able to manage what we would need if [another surge] happens,” Johnston said. “Our plan is to try to close the shelters and keep them closed and move away from a system that has remained largely significant numbers of open hotels for ongoing housing.”
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The announcement comes after city officials announced Monday that they were considering cutting back work for city employees in order to free up funds to address the immigrant crisis.
Denver has supported more than 38,000 immigrants from the southern border, which has reportedly cost the city $58 million so far. Other Colorado cities have signaled they will no longer financially and physically support the influx of immigrants.
